Sutra 2:3. The lack of awareness of Reality [avidya], the sense of egoism or ‘I-am-ness’ [asmita], attractions [raga] and repulsions [dwesha] towards objects and the strong desire for life [abhinivesha] are the great afflictions or causes of all miseries in life.

The five major kleshas are:

• Avidya: Ignorance; nescience; unknowing; literally: “to know not.” Also called ajnana.
• Asmita: I-ness; the sense of “I am;” “I exist;” sense of individuality.
• Raga: Attachment/affinity for something, implying a desire for it. This can be emotional (instinctual) or intellectual. It may range from simple liking or preference to intense desire and attraction. Greed; passion.
• Dwesha: Aversion/avoidance for something, implying a dislike for it. This can be emotional (instinctual) or intellectual. It may range from simple nonpreference to intense repulsion, antipathy and even hatred.
• Abhinivesha: Will to live; strong desire; false identification of the Self with the body or mind; an instinctive clinging to life and a dread of death.

(All the above are from A Brief Sanskrit Glossary.)

Sutra 2:4. Avidya is the source of those that are mentioned after it, whether they be in the dormant, attenuated, alternating or expanded condition.

This is why Shankara keeps insisting that jnana alone brings liberation.

Sutra 2:5. Avidya is taking the non-eternal [anitya], impure [ashuchi], pain-producing [dukha] and non-Atman [anatman] to be eternal [nitya], pure [shuchi], pleasure-producing [sukha] and Atman respectively.

No comment is really needed for this sutra, just the definitions.

• Anitya: Impermanent; transient.
• Ashaucha: Impurity; uncleanness.
• Dukha: Pain; suffering; misery; sorrow; grief; unhappiness; stress; that which is unsatisfactory.
• Anatman: Not-Self; insentient.
• Nitya: Eternal; permanent; unchanging; the ultimate Reality; the eternal Absolute.
• Shaucha: Purity; cleanliness.
• Sukha: Happiness; ease; joy; happy; pleasant; agreeable.
• Atman: The individual spirit or Self that is one with Brahman. The true nature or identity (self).

The whole world is caught in this snare. The yogi must free himself from these illusions right away, even though he must struggle hard against the ignorance and conditionings of many past lives as well as those of this life.

Sutra 2:6. Asmita is the identity or blending together, as it were, of the power of consciousness (Purusha) with the power of cognition (Buddhi).

Having forgotten our true spirit-Self, we have been pulled into the nets of illusion and the false experience that we are the mind and its perceptions. Therefore we say: “I hurt,” “I am sick,” “I own this,” “I lost that,” and so forth. We identify with and therefore define ourselves in terms like this. Mistaking the senses and the lower mind for our Self we think and live in an altogether mistaken way, bringing harm and suffering to ourselves, and strive to eliminate the harm and suffering by working with the very things that cause it. So misery and delusion become self-perpetuating. We live our lives like my paternal grandmother drove a car. When my grandfather taught her to drive, at one point she began moving the steering wheel back and forth in rapid, short movements. “What are you doing?” he asked. “I’m giving it more gas!” was her answer.

Sutra 2:7. That attraction, which accompanies (results from) pleasure (sukha), is Raga.

Sutra 2:8. That repulsion which accompanies pain (dukha) is Dwesha.

This is the experience of us all, but as Patanjali has pointed out, through ignorance we get sukha and dukha mixed up and our reactions are the opposite of what they should be.

To help us get untangled, a good rule is this: We cannot become addicted to what is good for us, only to what is bad for us. We see this in the way people become addicted to alcohol and drugs (including nicotine) that repelled and made them sick the first time they tried them. The body was warning them away, but after some continued use the same body began to demand and “need” them. The body being only an instrument of the mind, the addiction was also psychological. In the same way unnatural things and behavior become “natural” to us and we blame those who do not see it the same way as we do. In fact, many addicts become very unsettled and even hostile toward those who are not addicted like them, denouncing them as fools or worse.

I vividly remember what it was like to be persecuted by a history teacher in high school because I did not smoke cigarettes. It had nothing to do with history, but every so often we would have a class “discussion” on how silly it was to not smoke. (Things have certainly changed!) He would always end up by saying: “In my opinion, people who don’t smoke are doing worse things.” Such is the evil of addiction. Many people’s favorite foods are the very things that are bad for them to eat. The same is often true of the people they like or “love.” Once the mind is distorted it avoids the good and seeks out the bad, sinking into habit patterns that can bind them for lifetimes as they revel in their “free will.” As the Gita says: “The recollected mind is awake in the knowledge of the Atman which is dark night to the ignorant: the ignorant are awake in their sense-life which they think is daylight: to the seer it is darkness” (Bhagavad Gita 2:69).

Sutra 2:9. Abhinivesha is the strong desire for life which dominates even the learned.

Abhinivesha is the desperate will to live rising from false identification of the Self with the body; an instinctive and unreasoning clinging to life and a dread of death. Of course it rises from a complete misunderstanding of what life and death really are. Even great yogis can have a subconscious impression (samskara) of this but they can master it. Two examples are given in Autobiography of a Yogi.

Lahiri Mahasaya encouraged Sri Yukteswar to attend the Kumbha Mela at Allahabad in January, 1894. There he met Mahavatar Babaji. Later, when he met with Lahiri Mahasaya in Benares the following occured:

“‘Gurudeva, the divine master asked me to give you a message. “Tell Lahiri,” he said, “that the stored-up power for this life now runs low; it is nearly finished.”’

“At my utterance of these enigmatic words, Lahiri Mahasaya’s figure trembled as though touched by a lightning current. In an instant everything about him fell silent; his smiling countenance turned incredibly stern. Like a wooden statue, somber and immovable in its seat, his body became colorless. I was alarmed and bewildered. Never in my life had I seen this joyous soul manifest such awful gravity. The other disciples present stared apprehensively.

“Three hours passed in utter silence. Then Lahiri Mahasaya resumed his natural, cheerful demeanor, and spoke affectionately to each of the chelas. Everyone sighed in relief.

“I realized by my master’s reaction that Babaji’s message had been an unmistakable signal by which Lahiri Mahasaya understood that his body would soon be untenanted. His awesome silence proved that my guru had instantly controlled his being, cut his last cord of attachment to the material world, and fled to his ever-living identity in Spirit.”

When Yogananda had returned to India the following conversation took place.

“Arrangements were recently made for Master to visit Kidderpore [a section of Calcutta], but he failed to go.” Amulaya Babu, a brother disciple, made this remark to me one afternoon; I felt a cold wave of premonition. To my pressing inquiries, Sri Yukteswar only replied, “I shall go to Kidderpore no more.” For a moment, Master trembled like a frightened child.

(“Attachment to bodily residence, springing up of its own nature [i.e., arising from immemorial roots, past experiences of death],” Patanjali wrote, “is present in slight degree even in great saints.” In some of his discourses on death, my guru had been wont to add: “Just as a long-caged bird hesitates to leave its accustomed home when the door is opened.”)

Right identity is the remedy for this dilemma, identity that can be gained only through meditation.

Next: How to Escape the Miseries of Life.
Previously: What Is Kriya Yoga?

We are made in the Image of God, but we have to first realize that omniscience. Everything comes from that omniscience, which is the Light of God made from these little free electrons. Think of the work of His great Mind, His Intelligence. You cannot comprehend it–how, from that one little thing–both a particle and a wave–this great universe has been formed. That’s the greatest miracle–the miracle of Light.

I’d like to read just a word from the Autobiography about this Law of Miracles, and then I will be through. First, as I have said, God is Light. Science, as I have said, has shown, is showing every day that everything is reduced to electricity and finally, into the Light of God, the Flame of God. And in 1st Timothy, the 6th chapter, the 15th and 16th verses, we read this: “The King of kings, the Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality,” There’s only immortality in God’s great Light, in His Eternal Flame, and we can be that. “Dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto.” There we have what the reality of life is. And to perform miracles, to understand them, we must be that Light.

A personal experience

One time not too long ago I was meditating a long time, sitting there relaxed, just a bit into that land of the shadow between wakefulness and sleepfulness. And a tremendous bolt of lightning hit me, and with it a tremendous clap of thunder. I can’t describe it. I didn’t know whether I was dead or alive. But I was fully aware that that was the Flame of God’s Presence. So these things are real. Follow the Self-Realization techniques. Meditate, with devotion to God, and He will give you the greatest gift–oneness with His Presence–oneness with His Great Light.

And so, in the Autobiography of a Yogi, if you want to know about miracles, read this Chapter Thirty. It’s far more than I can tell you. Read it; meditate for years and years. Then perhaps you will know about it. There it says: “Through a Master’s divine knowledge of light phenomena, he can instantly project into perceptible manifestation the omnipresent light atoms.” Everything is from Light. “The actual form of the projection (whether it be: a tree, a medicine, a human body) is in conformance with a yogi’s power of will and visualization.” Those are God’s Powers. God visualized this Creation; by His Power of Will He put that visualization into effect. We can do the same thing, if we couple ourselves with God’s Will. These are the Laws of Miracles.

Finally, I’d like to read from the same page when it says: “Innocent of all personal motives….” You cannot know God if there’s personality. You have to be above ego, above personality. That’s why Jesus said, “You must be like little children.” Again, “Innocent of all personal motives, and employing the creative will bestowed upon him by the Creator…” All saints say, “Thy will be done, not my will, Thy will be done.” Using that will bestowed upon him by the Creator, “…a yogi rearranges the light atoms of the universe to satisfy any sincere prayer of a devotee.” “For this purpose were man and Creation made: that he should rise [up]” above “as” a “master” does, above delusion, “knowing his dominion over the cosmos.”

“We are made,” as Jesus said, “in the Image of God.” We are His children, and the things which Jesus did, we can do, and greater things if, if we merge ourselves in the omniscience and omnipresence of God.

Conforming to the law of miracles

And so in closing, miracles are possible today, if you conform to the law of miracles, the greatest of which is that you lift yourselves from outward consciousness of duality into the omniscience of God. Then you are subject not to the outward laws, but to the laws of His omniscience. If you do that, then you’ll understand miracles. Then, when you see a person who comes to you, and you see him receive the Presence of God, part of His great Spirit, and you see him change before your eyes; that’s the greatest miracle. Because there’s no miracle greater than the miracle to change a person, and give him the ability of his own free will and accord, to lift himself from delusion and outward consciousness, into the security and the Presence of God, into His great Power–and greatest of all, into His omniscient Love. That’s the greatest thing.

In Ezekiel, the 43rd Chapter, the 1st and 2nd verses we read, in effect: He took me by the way of the east gate–that’s this gate here, at the point between the eyebrows. He took me by the way of the east gate…and the glory of God shone by the way of the east gate. That’s the way into the omniscience of God, into His great Light.

Know that Light, you will know all about miracles. He took me by the way of the east gate and the glory of God shone by the way of the east gate, “and His voice was like the sound of many waters.” And He filled my whole being with His great Consciousness. This is the door. Self-Realization will give you the techniques and the way to enter the door into the omniscience of God–into His great Light. Because the Master, who promulgated Self-Realization Fellowship, had the realization–was one with that great Light of God; is now in that great Light of God. Follow him, be one with him, and you will know the omniscience of God, and that you are one of God’s children.

Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for this communion together in Thee, with Thy saints. Heavenly Father, may each one of us, by Thy grace, perceive our oneness with Thy Eternal Light. And greatest of all, may we perceive, and know, our oneness with Thy great Love. Be with each one of us. Bless us. Om, Peace, Amen.

Previously: Are Miracles Possible Today? (Part 1)

Listen to the the full audio file of the talk by Dr. Lewis: Are Miracles Still Possible Today?

Hidden Gems on the Atma Jyoti Blog:

• A Lesson on Respect
• Paramhansa Yogananda – Visions of India
• The Yogi as the Light in the World
• Spiritual Evolution

Are Miracles Possible Today? Yes, miracles are possible today, if we conform to the law, the Law of Miracles. Not too many years ago, if you told someone that machines would be flying around the way they are now, they wouldn’t believe you. But when we conform to the law, and offset gravity, then those things, which are seeming miracles at the time become facts, and realities. So miracles are possible, if we conform to the law.

At this time I’d like to just give you the definition of miracles: “A miracle is an event, or effect, in the physical world, beyond, or out of the ordinary course of things; deviating from, or transcending, the law of nature.” I’ll give one or two illustrations just to show you how a miracle means that some other law entered the picture, rather than the ordinary physical law with which we are familiar.

One example

One winter’s evening in Boston–where we have lots of ice and snow–I was driving fast to the center meeting in a borrowed car–my sister’s car. She was in the car, and one other lady, Sister Yogamata, who both are still living. And as we came up over the incline on this bridge–narrow bridge covered with ice–halfway across the bridge was this car that had skidded. And it stayed there, blocking the road.

Ordinarily, according to ordinary laws, there was no way of stopping. But I remember somehow just feeling in my heart, “Well, here’s the borrowed car; I am rushing to do God’s work; and look what’s going to happen.” As I came up over the bridge, it was just like a big giant stood there and just pushed. And that car stopped within just two or three feet of the other car. In other words, another set of laws was brought into play.

Both of the people are living–you can ask them. All felt the intercession of God’s higher law, which prevented that accident; because the pranic force of God’s great Power and His omniscience is everywhere, if you appeal to Him. His Power does not need wires, or instruments of hands and feet, or machines. It can work according to higher law in the way in which we would call a miracle.

Another example

One other instance comes to my mind, which you read of in the last Self-Realization Magazine. I wrote about the sound of the voice in my father’s home that spoke to me. When I was a young fellow, into lots of mischief, doing lots of things I shouldn’t be doing, this voice came right out of the ether–distinctly, loudly, not from any point in space, but from all around–and told me to behave myself and be a good boy. And not only I heard it, but others heard it in the house; showing that the ordinary law of sound, of speech, was superseded by a higher law of God’s omniscience. And so, there you have in a few words two illustrations of what a miracle is, of what miracles are.

Perhaps the greatest miracle is what we have right with us now. How, from the one great Light of God’s omniscience His Mind, His Thought, has produced this universe upon universe, with all its various and multitudinous manifestations. From light; because science has proved–those of you who are familiar with it–that matter resolves into energy and finally into light. And they have also now brought it back the other way–produced from light, energy and matter.

So that’s the greatest miracle, and that’s what we have to deal with in this subject: “Are Miracles Possible Today?” The entire phenomenal world is under the law of polarity, of duality. It’s that duality that has caused all the trouble and all the delusion–the duality which comes from the characteristic of the Light of God.

This subject is a little scientific, so I shall have to refer to a few references. I will try though, not to make it too boring. But just never mind–grasp the important parts, and remember that Jesus didn’t say, “Now you must know all about the Law of Miracles.” He didn’t say, “If you want to enter the kingdom heaven,” which is a miracle. No. All he said was, “Be like little children.” Be humble. You have to get above outward consciousness, above ego consciousness, then you can enter the kingdom of heaven. So if these scientific facts are too much, just forget them. In your heart, feel the Presence of God, and you will get the same result. You will know “the Light beyond the atoms,” from which all things have come.

Science and religion together

Duality, as I have said, is based on the electromagnetic phenomena of light. This cosmos, is simply the varied expression of that Light. The various things, which you see–this solid pulpit and all the things, automobiles, this church, this microphone–everything, is simply made from that one great Consciousness of God. The first manifestation of which is that electromagnetic force of Light.

In the beginning God created light (Genesis 1:3). First, “the Spirit of God moved” (Genesis 1:1). That’s the Thought of God. Then His Thought produced Light. And from that Light all things are made. Science is finding it out, now, that everything can be proved–that we come from that One Light. And so, the thing is that this varied experience we know as the cosmos is the different expressions of the Light. But in that Light–and this is the important thing–is the omniscience and the intelligence of God. So you can see, now, if you are going to perform miracles, what you’ve got to do. I’ll come to it in a minute.

Now, this Light, and the delusion; if you become one with this delusion, if you attach yourselves to this delusion, you have to obey the laws of delusion. Isn’t that so? If coming up over that bridge, I had forgotten all about God, or wasn’t trying to be in His Consciousness, I’d have followed the laws of this delusion, and we’d had a nice smashup. But somehow, by the grace of God, a higher law worked, and I was guided–not by outward laws, but the higher law. And so, if we cling to the laws of this delusion, we’ll be governed by that; but if you cling to the higher law, you’ll be governed by that higher law. Then you can produce miracles.

And so, that’s just what the saints did. The saints have shown, by their lives, and in spite of this delusion in which they found themselves–in spite of being in the world–they lived beyond the world, above the world. And they have shown that instead of being governed by the laws of this life, with the necessities of life, and being governed by the laws of the paradoxes and the injustices of life, they rose above that and took a long range view, and were governed by the higher law of God’s omniscience. They put the tremendous faith they had, in eternal things; in the value of eternal things; not these worldly things. That’s an important point.

So, likewise, Self-Realization will teach you how to contact the eternal things of life, that you may be guided, not by worldly laws, and outward laws, but by higher laws of God. And so, miracles occur when you get out of this dream of God, and are governed by higher laws.

Transcending limitation

Now, the manifestations of electricity and gravity are known. Scientists know all about them, but how about the Force itself? How about electricity and gravity itself? No. You have to know the Sole Operator, if you want to know that. You have to rise above these trillions of manifestations in this life. If you want to know what electricity is, you’ve got to know the Operator Himself. You’ve got to know the omniscience of God. In that omniscience is the Power that has made universe upon universe. But greatest of all, in that omniscience is His divine love. That’s the greatest thing.

Now, you have to know that. If you want to know how electricity works, you can. Follow the scientists if you want to know what electricity is; what gravity is; what the power that holds the atom together is. Then you’ve got to be one with that Power, which is the atom itself; which is the Force which holds the atom together; which is the Force in the atoms of life, from which all things have come. And so, as I have been pointing out, you can see that we must get above outward things and know the Sole Operator. Know the man, or the one rather, who has made all these things. We must know His omniscience and His love.

And so, I will hurry along, and say this; that delusion, and outward consciousness, can be removed only by merging in the omniscience of God. How to do it is the point. By being in, going through, being one with, and passing through the Divine Eye at this point [between the eyebrows]. That is the Door from outward laws to inner laws, and the omniscience of God.

On the other side

On this side of the door what do you have? You have insecurity, paradoxes, injustices, uncertainty. On the other side what do you have? You have the peace and the security of God, and you can then be subject only to God’s Laws. That’s why the saints say one thing when they get beyond the door on the other side. The yogis you know “sail their consciousness into the omniscience of God.” That’s beautiful; yogis “sail their consciousness,” float it “into the omniscience of God. And in that omniscience you are subject to the laws of God, which are just, and which are exact, and which are eternal, and which are not subject to duality. That’s the important thing.

Now going on a little further to just a little bit about creation. Remember, the greatest miracle is creation. When you think about it, how, from this one Force of God’s Light, these things come with solidity, and all that. It doesn’t seem possible. But they have proved that the light atoms, from which all things have come, are made of nothing but free electrons, or the Light spoken of in Genesis, “God created light.” And there is a certain reason for that, which I will tell you in a minute.

Now as regards Creation, “…and the Spirit of God moved.” In other words, God created things first in His Thought. Then He condensed that Thought into Light, as spoken of in the Bible. Now that Light is made of free electrons. This is very important. There is no duality yet. But those electrons have a dual personality, a dual character. This is important. They have one characteristic of a particle, and the other characteristic is of a wave. And that gives them the characteristics of light. First from His Thought He condensed this substance known as light–just free little electrons. But those electrons have two characteristics: one is that of forming particles, the other is the wave action.

Now matter itself has those two characteristics of duality: one of forming particles of solidity; and the other the wave action–or light. Light and shadow come, because light is made up of the electrons with those two characteristics. That’s a very important point. And from that comes all the dualities.

Let there be Light

Now going on with the creation. From His great Thought and Consciousness, God first created Light. Then the Light was further condensed into atoms. And the essential part of atoms is Light. Light atoms is the substance from which even solid iron is made. That doesn’t seem possible, does it? From the Light atoms everything is produced. Then those atoms form into particles.

There you have the creation in a few words. But remember that the electrons have that dual personality of forming particles, solid substances, and the wave action of light. From that we get this world of light and shadows. This Dream of God, this Cosmic Delusion, and everything in this world, whether it be a good or a bad automobile, a person you like or don’t like, health or sickness, or wealth or poverty–all those opposites come because those little electrons have that dual personality; and from the atoms of light, all things have come.

This light that I have spoken of is the essence of the atom. The electron microscope has proved that atoms are formed from light, and then from that, due to the intelligence of God, all things are made–though how He does it is beyond us. And so, we have in a few words, the story of Creation from the standpoint that it is made from Light. There is no material universe–it is simply light and shadow.

Now light is the essence of the atom–free electrons with their dual characteristics, plus the Will of God, made the atom. Remember, the energy that holds the atom together is nothing but what Einstein is trying to prove in his “Unified Field Theory,” that the atomic energy which is in, and which has made and sustains the light atoms, is nothing butt he Thought of God. Mind Stuff, triggered by the Will of God, produces His Thought. That is Einstein’s “Unified Field Theory,” which the Master spoke of in that little poem “Thy Secret Throne.”

Thy Secret Throne

Behind the screen
Of all things seen
How dost Thou hide–
Elude the tide
Of marching human eyes,
That ’round Thee rushing hies?
’Twill not be long
Ere will be known
Thy hiding place
By children with Thine eyes and grace.

Sage science splits
Each atom knit
By Thee, to find apace
Thy hiding place.
Is heart of atom–electron,
Thy secret throne?
Deep we bore
To find Thy art, and lore
Of doings all sublime;
E’er hidden betimes.

Yet Thy abode
Seem far remote;
’Tis still to find
With deeper mind.

So you can see there, step-by-step, how the yogis knew years and years ago. Now science is saying it–that it comes from the one omniscience of God, nothing else.

And we have proof of this, which I will not go into due to the shortness of time. There are certain equations which show these things. One is that only a material body whose mass is infinite, could equal the velocity of light. What does that mean? In simple terms it simply means that you and I must expand our consciousness to the omniscience of God; then, as God does, we can do.

Now that’s the key to the Law of Miracles. The key to the Law of Miracles is to be the omniscience of God. Be that Light. Then you’re not subject to the light in this shadow world–to the law in this shadow world–you are not subject to that at all. You’re subject to the laws of omniscience, which means that your consciousness is everywhere, and that the Force of the Universe is your consciousness. Because Jesus said, “These things I do ye shall do and greater things, because I go to my Father” (John 14:12)

Next: Are Miracles Possible Today? (Part Two)

More by Dr. Lewis:

• A Church in Your Home
• Yogananda’s Last Days

SWAMI BRAHMANANDA: Do you know why I ask you seriously, all of you, to devote yourselves heart and soul to the Lord ? When we were of your age, Thakur (Sri Ramakrishna) used to push us and make us do our spiritual practices. In boyhood the mind remains plastic like clay. It receives an indelible impression from whatever it comes in contact with. So long as clay remains soft, you can give it any shape you like. But when the clay is burned, this cannot be done. Your mind now is like unburnt clay. It can be moulded in any way you want. It is still pure and untainted, so it can be directed very easily toward God. If the mind is kept wholly occupied with thoughts of the Lord from this time on, no foreign thought can disturb it. If the mind be now firmly fixed on the Divine,you need have no anxiety about your spiritual progress.

The mind is like a packet of mustard seeds. If the seeds are once scattered, it is very difficult to gather them up. So I ask you to mould your mind before its energy becomes scattered. When you grow old and the energy of your mind has been frittered away, you will have to make very strenuous efforts to concentrate it; you will experience tremendous difficulty when you try to focus it on a particular object. Do you not see how impressionable is the mind of a little boy? You are now like him.

Sixteen to Thirty

If you want to mould yourselves, strive for it earnestly from your sixteenth to your thirtieth year. After that there is less chance of achieving illumination. Up to the thirtieth year the body and the mind remain fresh. That is the time when the mind can be given a definite shape. But you must labour hard and devote yourselves heart and soul to your ideal of life. Whatever impression the mind may receive during youth will last throughout life. If therefore you have determined to lead a holy life in order to realize God, strive your utmost from today. Your health is all right now. The mind also is plastic. This is the time for spiritual practices. Mould your mind through constant struggle. If this period of your life goes by, it will be more difficult to do anything afterwards.

If you can leave a strong stamp on the mind during this period, if you can make God the be-all and end-all of your existence, if you can devote yourselves sincerely to realize Him, you will be free from all sorrow and pain. No misery, no unhappiness will be able to throw you off your balance. You will become the inheritor of everlasting bliss and joy divine.

Seeking happiness from the world

What does man want? He wants happiness. How he runs after it! What plans he makes! What strenuous efforts he puts forth! But does he get it? After many attempts, after many a plan, he is baffled. He plans again and again, but to no purpose. In this way his whole life ebbs away. He has not the good fortune to enjoy peace and happiness at all. He toils hard like an ordinary labourer and in return reaps sorrow and pain. Then he departs from this world. Thus he lives and dies in vain. Nothing better can be expected by one who runs after empty pleasures, forgetting the goal of life.

If you wish to attain real happiness, you must sacrifice all worldly pleasures, all attachment of? fleeting joys, and direct the whole energy of your mind toward God. The more you advance toward Him, the greater the bliss you will realize. The more your mind becomes attached to the world and to sense-enjoyments, the more will you suffer.

Man as camel

Do you know the nature of the ordinary man? He seeks only pleasure, joy and diversion. And he makes this mistake from the very beginning. Ninety-nine per cent of those who seek happiness do not know what it really is. They grasp at whatever they find near at hand and believe they have got the thing they seek. Then when they are disappointed, they take up something else; and when again they fail, they bemoan their lot. But see the folly of it; they are disappointed again and again; still they will not change their course, they will not take up the right path. They pass their lives receiving blow after blow and bewailing their destiny. Thakur (Sri Ramakrishna) used to compare them to a camel. The camel will not take good grass even when close by. It knows well that thorny grass makes the mouth bleed, but still it insists on eating it. In the same way man suffers because of wrong thoughts and wrong desires.

You are boys very young boys. Your mind has not yet received any evil impression from the outside world. If you can struggle hard from now on, you will be able to escape life’s sorrows and miseries.

Whatever the riches you may possess, whatever your chances of living a happy and prosperous life, however wide your circle of friends and well-wishers, you will not have real happiness. All these things last for a few moments, or at the last an hour; they do not last longer. Then comes a reaction of misery. Thus reaction follows action. If one is to attain true and eternal happiness, one must aspire after that joy which brings no reaction in its train. Wherein lies that true and eternal happiness? It lies in realizing God. This divine enjoyment alone brings no reaction; all other kinds of enjoyments you can name are followed by reaction. And you must know that wherever there is reaction, there is sorrow and suffering.

Never forget the ideal of human life. This life is not given us to while away in eating, drinking and sleeping like an animal, in idle gossip and such things. When you have been born as a human being, spurn all worldly enjoyments. Firmly resolve to realize God and attain infinite bliss. Flinch not, even if you die in the attempt.

Why have you come away from your hearth and home in the name of our Thakur (Sri Ramakrishna)? Is it not to realize Him, to get rid of the sorrows and sufferings of the world and attain everlasting peace and happiness ?

Be up and doing

Sincerely struggle then toward the ideal of life, so long as you have strength of body and mind. By no means relax your efforts, saying that you will realize the ideal later or that it will be possible only through the Lord’s grace. It is idlers alone that talk in this way. I do not want you to idle away your time. If you are not in earnest, speak out clearly. Say, “I have a desire to enjoy worldly pleasures. I have not a sincere longing to realize Truth–to attain God.” Let your speech and your thought be one.

When are you going to do spiritual practices? The best part of life, as I told you, is from the sixteenth to the thirtieth year. Do you hope that after wasting these valuable years in useless pursuits, you will be able to take up spiritual practices in old age? Know that is cheating, deceiving oneself. Do not cheat yourselves.

Related posts:

• Swami Brahmananda on Meditation and Realization
• Four Ways to Be Happy
• Important Conditions for Happiness–by Paramhansa Yogananda

In the midst of this altercation, Mother Anandamayi came walking through the room. “MA!” called out Saguna, “Is it true that women cannot attain liberation?” Still walking on, Ma nodded and answered: “That is true. Women cannot attain liberation.” Saguna stood there completely thunderstruck as the man chuckled and chortled at his “triumph.” After standing and stewing for nearly half and hour, Saguna saw Ma returning. Ma came right up to her, said: “And men do not attain liberation either!” and walked on and out of the room.

Then Saguna understood: only those who transcend body identity and “live in the spirit” can attain liberation.

More memories of India:

• Who is a Real Yogi or Sannyasi?
• Kundalini as Primal Consciousness

1. For it is only the finite that has wrought and suffered; the infinite lies stretched in smiling repose. –Emerson.
2. Ever seek to promote the good of others; the best riches are universal benevolence. –Hindu Scriptures.
3. Annihilate the selfhood in me: be Thou all my life. –William Blake.
4. Nothing lessens misfortune like patience. –Ibn Gabirol.
5. Seek bliss in both worlds by serving Him, Put away the tale of love that travelers tell; Do thou serve God with all thy might. –Rumi.
6. Happy the man who can endure the highest and the lowest fortune. He, who has endured such vicissitudes with equanimity, has deprived misfortune of its power. –Seneca.
7. They are beggars that can count their worth. –Shakespeare.
“Learning, without thought, is a snare; thought, without learning, is a danger.” –Confucius.
8. The student who daily recognizes how much he yet lacks, and as the months pass forgets not what he has succeeded in learning, may undoubtedly be called a lover of learning. –Tsze-hia.
9. The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. –Marcus Aurelius.
10. If this birth really happens no creature can hinder thee, all points thee to God and this birth. –Eckhart.
11. Learning, without thought, is a snare; thought, without learning, is a danger. –Confucius.
12. When you have accepted the Light oh Beloved, When you behold what is veiled without a veil, Like a star you will walk upon the heavens. –from the Masnavi.
13. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. –Jesus Christ.
14. You cannot run away from a weakness; you must ‘ sometime fight it out or perish; and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand? –R. L. Stevenson.
15. He is richest who is content with the least; for content is the wealth of nature. –Socrates.
“The sage attends to the inner and not to the outer; he puts away the objective and holds to the subjective.” –Lao Tse.
16. Forbearance is at first like poison but when ingrained in the nature it becomes like honey. –Sadi.
17. Stand ever firm within, resolved to do or die; So, living, earn renown; or dead, the starry sky. –Panchatantra.
18. There never was a false God, nor was there ever really a false religion, unless you call a child a false man. –Max Muller.
19. You will find that when you cease to take thought for your own deliverance, God will take thought for you; and when you cease to help yourself eagerly He will help you. –St. Francis de Sales.
20. Uncertainly I steer through complex ways My soul from masquerade to masquerade. –R. J. Freeman.
21. The best path through life is the high road, which initiates us at the right moment into all experience. –Amiel.
“God was made man that man might become God.” –St. Augustine.
22. Wisely and slow: they stumble that run fast. –Shakespeare.
23. Those who worship the Merciful One are they who walk on the earth gently, and who, when fools speak to them, say “Peace.” –Koran.
24. God was made man that man might become God.–St. Augustine.
25. The sage attends to the inner and not to the outer; he puts away the objective and holds to the subjective. –Lao Tze.
26. When all thoughts, all words and all deeds are given up unto the Lord, and the least forgetfulness of God makes one intensely miserable, then love has begun. –Narada.
27. The superior man can be high without being haughty. The inferior man can be haughty if not high. –Confucius.
28. To learn and discern of his brother the clod, And his brother the beast, and his brother the God. –L. Adams Beck.
29. Pain melted in tears and was pleasure, Death tingled with blood and was life. –Swinburne.
30. We will have no thirst for yesterday, no thought for tomorrow. –Vachel Lindsay.
31. As thrills of long hushed tone live in the viol, so our souls grow fine with keen vibration from the touch of noble natures gone. –J. R. Lowell.

More from Yogananda:

• What is Kriya Yoga?
• Yogananda’s Last Days
• How to Get Your Prayers Answered

The Lord’s silence, in the Gita, about the purpose of creation, is truly a demonstration of His divine wisdom. This very same problem arises in various minds in various forms. How did avidya arise in Brahman? When did karma begin? Why did the Formless assume forms? How could darkness or Maya exist in the Supreme Absolute Light? And so on. There can be no answer to these questions. It involves the understanding of the Ultimate Principle, the Intelligence that is behind and beyond these questions, the Cause of all causes, the Subject of all objects. It cannot be known as an object. And, when the subject (Self or Atman) knows Itself, speech and thought cease. The questioner and question vanish in the quest. The doubt disappears in the doubter. In that Supreme Silence, the problem is inexpressibly solved! The riddle is solved; but speech is baffled and the question remains unanswerable.

Therefore, the Lord is silent about the transcendental question in the Gita; but, such is the divine wisdom of the Almighty that He gives ways and means of solving the problem.

Don’t bother about why creation came into being, but try to know the Creator! Take creation for what it is and try to transcend it. This is wisdom. Trying to probe intellectually into the mystery is only buying psychological distress.

There is no ‘Why?’ in respect of transcendental matters. ‘Why?’ is only for worldly things. Reason is finite and frail. God only knows the ‘Why?’. Realize the Self. Then you will get the answer. Then you will know the origin and nature of Maya and everything.

Q: Will there be world peace if there are no politicians?

World peace would not depend upon the existence or non-existence of politicians, if only people, individually and collectively, understand and live up to the canons of perfect righteousness, wisdom, truth and justice. As long as people do not rise to this level, ‘politicians’, which is only a name for those who are in charge of the administration, will continue to be actuated by their selfishness and greed and will accordingly ride roughshod over the feelings and sufferings of millions and will go on embarking on wars however destructive they may be in general.

Q: Why has God created young beautiful women? There must be some sense in His creation. We should enjoy them and procreate as many as possible. We should keep up the progeny of the line. If all people become sannyasins and go to forests, what will become of this world?

These beautiful women and wealth are the instruments of Maya to delude you and entrap you into the nets. If you wish to remain always as a worldly man with low thoughts, debasing desires, you can by all means do so. You are at perfect liberty. You can marry three hundred and fifty wives and procreate as many children. Nobody can check you. But you will soon find that this world cannot give you the satisfaction you want, because all objects are conditioned in time, space and causation. There are death, disease, old age, cares, worries and anxieties, fear, loss, disappointment, failure, heat, cold, snake-bites, scorpion-stings, abuse, earthquakes, accidents, etc. You cannot at all find rest of mind even for a single second. As your mind is filled with passion and impurity, your understanding is clouded and your intellect is perverted now. You are not able to understand the illusory nature of the universe and the everlasting bliss of Atma.

Passion can be effectively checked. There are potent methods. After checking passion, you will enjoy real bliss from within–from Atma.

All men cannot become sannyasins. They have various ties and attachments. They are passionate and cannot, therefore, leave the world. They are pinned to their wives, children and property. Your proposition is wholly wrong. It is asambhava, impossible. Have you ever heard in the annals of the world’s history that this world had become vacant as all men had become sannyasins? Then, why do you bring in this absurd proposition? This is an ingenious trick of your mind to support your foolish arguments and Satanic philosophy which has passion and sexual gratification as its important tenets. Do not talk like this in future. This exposes your foolishness and passion-nature. Do not bother yourself about this world. Mind your own business. God is all-powerful. Even if this world is completely evacuated when all people retire to forests, God will immediately create crores of people by mere willing, within the twinkling of an eye. This is not your look-out. Find out methods to eradicate your passion.

These questions and answers are taken from May I Answer That?, a free ebook from the Divine Life Society.

More from Swami Sivananda:

• 8 Keys to Spiritual Success from Swami Sivananda
• Swami Sivananda on Psychic Powers
• Making the Best Use of Time

Read the new Commentary on Light on the Path.

Sutra 2:1. Austerity [tapas], self-study [swadhyaya] and resignation to Ishwara [Ishwarapranidhana] constitute Kriya Yoga.

First let us define Kriya Yoga as Patanjali means it. Because many have read Yogananda’s autobiography they assume Patanjali means the method Yogananda named “Kriya Yoga,” but this is not at all so. The yoga methods which Yogananda taught in America were never called “Kriya Yoga” before that time, but were always referred to as “the Yoga of Shyama Charan Lahiri” or simply “pranayama.” Because the first was awkward to keep saying (or writing) and the second was too general, Yogananda realized the need to give the practice a distinctive name. Since the main effect of all pranayama is purification, he reasonably decided on Kriya Yoga. (By the way: Since this is so, those Indian teachers who denounce Yogananda as having altered the practice, claiming that they teach “the original Kriya Yoga,” are proved by simple historical fact to be false. For if they were really in the traditional line of Indian teachers they would not call it “Kriya Yoga” at all. As my friend Durgaprasad Sahai, a disciple of Swami Keshabananda written about in Autobiography of a Yogi, told me: “I practiced that yoga for twenty-five years before I ever heard it called ‘Kriya Yoga’–in Yogananda’s autobiography.”)

A Brief Sanskrit Glossary defines “kriya” as: “Purificatory action, practice, exercise, or rite; movement; function; skill. Kriyas purify the body and nervous system as well as the subtle bodies to enable the yogi to reach and hold on to higher levels of consciousness and being. And Kriya Yoga as: “The Yoga of Purification: ‘Austerity (tapasya), self-study (swadhyaya), and offering of the life to God (Ishwara pranidhana) are Kriya Yoga’ (Yoga Sutras 2:1).” It is this process that Patanjali is speaking about in this and the next sutra.

Kriya Yoga consists of three elements: tapas, swadhyaya, and Ishwarapranidhana. I have written about these in The Foundations of Yoga, and will include the relevant sections later on when we are considering yama and niyama, so now brief extracts will suffice.

“Tapas literally means ‘to generate heat’ in the sense of awakening or stimulating the whole of our being to higher consciousness.…Basically, tapas is spiritual discipline that produces a perceptible result, particularly in the form of purification.…whenever tapas is spoken of it always implies the practice of yoga and the observances that facilitate yoga practice.”

“Swadhyaya means ‘self-study.’ This is usually interpreted as the study of the sacred texts which deal with the nature of the true Self (spirit) and its realization.…But it also means keeping a careful watch on the ego-based mind so as to be aware of its delusive and destructive tricks.…In swadhyaya we look at and analyze the mind in the calmness and intuition born of meditation.”

“Ishwarapranidhana–the offering of one’s life to God…is far more on every level than simple religious devotion, and much more than any kind of discipline or self-denial done in the name of spirituality. It is the giving to God of the yogi’s entire life, not just a giving of material offerings or occasional tidbits of devotion to God, however fervent or sincere.”

From a strictly yogic viewpoint we can expand on these a bit. In tapas–meditation–swadhyaya takes place when we become aware of the changes taking place in our mind or see its condition, aspects, characteristics and so forth as we meditate. Also in meditation we are merging our prana–our life energies and breath with the Vishwaprana, the Universal Life Force, and ultimately with Ishwara, their source. So meditation is also Ishwarapranidhana.

Sutra 2:2. (Kriya-Yoga) is practiced for attenuating Kleshas and bringing about Samadhi.

“Klesha” means taints or afflictions. A klesha is something that diminishes or distorts our consciousness, bringing misery and pain in some form. It also hinders meditation, preventing us from rising to the state of calm, clear concentration and samadhi. Tapas, swadhyaya, and ishwarapranidhana weaken the kleshas, literally fading them out, washing them away, for they are accretions that have nothing to do with the eternal nature of our Self. Note that diminishing the kleshas is enough to bring about samadhi, which will then itself erase them completely. So we are not facing a herculean task that need daunt us. As Krishna tells Arjuna: “Even a little practice of this yoga will save you from the terrible wheel of rebirth and death [mahato bhayat–great fear]” (Bhagavad Gita 2:40).

Next: What Are the Causes of the Afflictions of Life?
Previously: Dawning of the Spiritual Light

More on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali:

• 7 Ways to Purify the Mind
• Obstacles in Meditation and How to Overcome Them
• Who is God? The Yogi’s Viewpoint

Sutra 1:46. They (stages corresponding to subtle objects) constitute only Samadhi with ‘seed’.

Sabija, “with seed,” means that which possesses attributes, and produces samskaras or subtle karmas in the experiencer. Sabija samadhi is Savikalpa samadhi wherein the seeds of samskaras or karmas are not destroyed, and which produces the highest and subtlest of samskaras or karmas.

Sutra 1:47. On attaining the utmost purity of the Nirvichara stage (of Samadhi) there is the dawning of the spiritual light [adhyatma prasadah].

In contrast to the samadhi spoken of in the prior verse, nirvichara samadha is nirbija: “without seed,” without attributes and without the production of samskaras or subtle karmas. Nirbija samadhi is nirvikalpa samadhi wherein the seeds of samskaras or karmas are destroyed (“fried” or “roasted”) by Jnana, and which produces no samskaras or karmas.

When the utmost purity (shuddha sattwa) of the buddhi is attained, then even pradhana in its highest form is transcended and the light of the Self is perceived.

Sutra 1:48. There, the consciousness [prajna] is Truth-and Right-bearing [ritambhara].

According to A Brief Sanskrit Glossary, Ritam is “Truth; Law; Right; Order. The natural order of things, or Cosmic Order/Law. Its root is ri, which means ‘to rise, to tend upward.’” When a yogi reaches the nirvichara stage his consciousness henceforward reflects the divine order and is oriented solely toward ultimate Reality. Therefore Vyasa comments: “The knowledge which appears in that clearness of the mind in samadhi has the special name of Truth-bearing in the literal sense that it brings truth alone, and there is no trace of erroneous knowledge in it. So it is said: ‘By scriptural authority, by inference, and by enthusiasm for meditation practice–in thee three ways perfecting his knowledge, he attains the highest yoga.’” Shankara says that the consciousness spoken of in this verse is born from viveka (discrimination between reality and unreality).

Patanjali’s standards must be applied to us first of all, but also to any who claim to have realization of the Truth (Sat).

Sutra 1:49. The knowledge based on inference or testimony is different from direct knowledge obtained in the higher states of consciousness (I-48) because it is confined to a particular object (or aspect).

That is, such knowledge is only relative and limited to one object at a time, whereas the knowing in samadhi is absolute, unlimited, and all-inclusive, for Brahman is described as “That which when known, all becomes known.”

Sutra 1:50. The impression produced by it (Sabija Samadhi) stands in the way of other impressions.

Vyasa explains this perfectly, saying: “The samskara produced by truth-bearing knowledge removes the accumulated deposit of samskaras of extraversion. When the extravertive samskaras are overcome, no ideas arising from them appear. With inhibition of extravertive ideas, samadhi becomes habitual. Then there is knowledge from that samadhi; from that, more samskaras are laid down of knowledge, and so a fresh deposit of samskaras is built up. From that again knowledge, and from that more samskaras of it.” Shankara expands on this, commenting: ”Knowledge must set up a samskara. Each time the knowledge is renewed, its special samskara is reinforced. But the renewal of the knowledge is from again taking up meditation on the object, different from itself. It can do this because it is produced by a different object, namely the thing as it really is [yathartha].”

The samskaras produced by sabija samadhi erase the samskaras of ignorance. Vyasa explains this, continuing: “Why would not this new accumulation of samskaras draw the mind into involvement with it? It is because samskaras of knowledge cause the destruction of the taints [kleshas], and so do not constitute anything that would involve the mind. In fact they make the mind cease its activity, for the exertions of mind come to an end in knowledge [khyati].”

This may seem technical, but it is an absolutely practical analysis, for Patanjali intends for us to compare what he says with our meditation experiences and thereby know whether or not we are truly progressing toward enlightenment. In the same way the Bhagavad Gita describes the state of mind of a liberated person in such a way that only the yogi can know whether or not he is in that state. No one can cite the Gita to prove to others that he is liberated–he alone can know the truth of the matter. Both the Gita and the Yoga Darshan are practical manuals of higher consciousness.

Sutra 1:51. On suppression of even that owing to suppression of all (modifications of the mind) ‘Seedless’ [nirbija] Samadhi (is attained).

From sabija samadhi the yogi passes on to nirbija samadhi, the final step in the liberation of his consciousness. This produces no samskaras and dissolves the samskaras accumulated from sabija samadhi. Vyasa: “Thus the samskaras do not cause the mind to continue to exist, but prevent its involvement with anything. The mind, no longer involved, ceased to exists, along with the samskaras which have promoted release. When mind ceases, Purusha abides in his own nature alone, and is therefore called pure, alone, and released.”

The section on samadhi (samadhi pada) is now completed.

Next: What is Kriya Yoga?

Previously: Types of SuperConsciousness

More on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali:

• The Foundations of Yoga
• Introduction to Om Yoga